


The 12 Confusions of Christmas

by handathepanda



Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game)
Genre: Breath of Life oneshot, Christmas Cookies, Christmas Fluff, Cuddling in Bed, Decorating, F/M, Gift Giving, Mutual Pining, Playing in the Snow, Shopping, Snow, all the cuddling, because they're both stubborn boneheads, but not yet established relationship, cuddling by the fire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:34:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28338543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/handathepanda/pseuds/handathepanda
Summary: Breath of Life companion one-shot.  It's Christmas time at the MacMillan Estate, and the survivors and Evan try to get accustomed to their first Christmas outside of the Entity's realm with various traditions.
Relationships: Evan MacMillan | The Trapper/Meg Thomas
Comments: 14
Kudos: 31





	The 12 Confusions of Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome! This is a separate one-shot from my long-fic, Breath of Life.  
> You don't need to have read Breath of Life to understand, but reading it would help a lot. Evan and some survivors made it out of the realm, and as they try to grasp onto living in modern times, the gang experiences Christmas in ways that effect them all.  
> For those of you who come from Breath of Life, pretend this happened between chapter 14 and 15 for simplicity sake...no crazy things have happened....yet. Just simple bonding :) <3

1\. Christmas Eve

The first thing Meg notices as she wakes up is just how cold it is despite the heavy weight of Evan’s arm holding her close to him, and how she couldn’t scoot any closer to him even if she tried.

She is practically molded beside him, fitting into his torso perfectly, and normally that is all she needs, but right now, she shivers as she pulls the thin blanket closer around her like a cocoon.

Goddamn, why is she so cold?

Evan’s arm squeezes her just a little bit tighter as he lets out a long exhale.

“You’re shivering,” he mumbles, his voice deep with sleep.

“It’s like a freakin’ freezer in here,” she stutters, finally peeking one eye open at their surroundings and the first thing she sees is gentle snow slowly falling outside.Meg’s breath hitches as she watches, amazed that she is seeing actual snow in nearly a decade.

“Here, let me get another blanket,” Evan says, giving her one last tight hug before slowly getting out of bed and walking over to the dresser.

If it were any other day, Meg wouldn’t admit it but she would have watched him walk over to the dresser, feeling a sense of domesticity that she craves with him as they begin to build this life together more and more each day. 

It feels so normal to watch him and admire the way his back looks under his shirt and how it would feel to lace her fingers under it to feel his muscles on her skin, breathe him in, but soon those thoughts are lost to more innocent feelings as she drifts off into a comforting sleep. 

But today she can hardly take her eyes off the snow outside, mesmerized by how peaceful it makes her in that moment, and soon Evan comes back over with a heavier set blanket and drapes it over her before climbing back into their bed and resuming his position beside her, pulling her to him.

“I always loved the snow growing up,” Meg comments after a few minutes of silence.

“As did I,” Evan says, resting his head on top of hers.“But as I grew older, it became an inconvenience.But now…I suppose this is nice.”

“It is,” Meg says softly, wanting to elaborate more on what Evan said, wanting more of a conversation, but the blanket really warmed her up and she feels like she could easily fall back asleep knowing there is a white wonderland outside waiting for her when she’s ready to get up.

She begins to think of what she wants when she gets up.

She wants hot chocolate.

Do they have hot chocolate?

They need to go to the store.

Evan needs to try hot chocolate…unless they had hot chocolate during his time?

Did they?

“Hey Evan,” she whispers, not wanting to wake him up if he’s back asleep, but immediately he hums in acknowledgement.“Did you ever have hot chocolate growing up?”

Evan chuckles.“I did.”

“Do you like it?”

Evan falters and for a moment, Meg wonders if he heard her but then he sighs before responding, “I don’t remember.”

“Oh.” A twinge of regret at bringing up the subject stabs Meg, but instead of dwelling on the implications of not having a drink for over a century, she wants to make sure he has a pleasant new memory of it.“Well, let’s get some hot chocolate when we get up.It’s a perfect drink for snowy weather.”

“I’d like that,” Evan breathes out, just as tired as Meg feels as they both scoot closer together, if that was even possible.

They can stay like this just for a few more minutes, Meg tells herself.There’s nothing urging them to get up, and she can’t seem to pull herself away from this one perfect moment.

_Bang bang bang_

The sense of complete and utter peace is instantly shattered when there’s a loud knock on the other side of their door.

“Guys!” Nea yells from outside of the door with a loud knock.“Get your lazy asses up!”

Meg peels her eyes away from the falling snow outside with a soft groan as she begins to turn and face Evan, who already is propped up on an elbow.With a downwards glance, the corner of his mouth turns up creating the small dimple Meg loves in his cheek. 

“Did you hear me?” Nea yells again with another pound on the door.“I will come in there and if I see bits and parts of you two I never wanted to see-“

“We’re getting up,” Meg shouts back, her voice cracking with a small laugh as Evan scowls at Nea’s last sentence.“What is it?”

“It’s snowing!” Meg can hear the excitement in Nea’s voice despite being muffled by the closed door.“Like real snow! Not that cold fake bullshit that was at Ormond.This is real snow!”

“So are you asking your parents if you can go out and play?” Meg teases back.

“Oh shut up.No, we’re taking a snow day and going to the mall.It’s already decided.”

The mall?

Meg doesn’t even remember the last time she went to the mall.She never had much spare money between her and her mom, she never felt the need to go, and for a moment, Meg is excited.

She’s excited to go to the mall with her favorite people and create a completely new memory, and maybe be able to ask Ace to borrow some money to buy a gift or two for everyone.

“So are you getting up? I don’t hear any shuffling around in there!”

“We’re getting up,” Meg yells back.“Give us a minute.”

“We’ll be downstairs, but hurry up.We’re all ready to go and the mall closes at six since it’s Christmas Eve.”

It’s Christmas Eve? Where did the time go?

Meg listens for Nea’s footsteps to retreat from the door before rolling over and looking at Evan who is still resting on his elbow, as he looks down at Meg.

“Well, you heard her,” she says before rubbing her eyes, willing herself to wake up. “I had no idea it was Christmas Eve…did you?”

“I had an idea it was around that time.”

“An idea,” Meg repeats, amusement in her voice.“I take it you’re not a huge Christmas person.”

“Not particularly,” Evan shrugs before continuing, “There was nothing to celebrate, and even if there was, it wasn’t like my father would have had any want to waste precious time on such frivolities.”

“Frivolities?!” Meg’s jaw drops.“Christmas is the best time of the year…I just…how…” words fail her miserably as she stares at him looking for any words to say.He chuckles once he looks at her and how absolutely ridiculous she looked with a stern scowl on her face trying to comprehend how someone would never celebrate during the holiday season.Meg continues despite Evan’s very amused look on his face.“We never had much money to go all out, but it was just about the season, doing things that didn’t cost too much and just being together…it was my favorite holiday growing up.”

“I wish I could say I had a similar outlook,” Evan says nonchalantly as he gets out of bed.“But it was the way it was.Nothing can change that.”

“I guess, but that doesn’t mean we can’t change your mind about Christmas.I’m going to make sure you have a damn good day, Evan MacMillan,” Meg threatens while waving a finger in his face from across the bed before helping him remake the blankets.

“Oh, is that so?” He responds, his face splitting into a smile as he cocks an eyebrow.

“Yes.It’ll be the best goddamn holiday you’ve ever experienced.”

“Well, you don’t have much competition in terms of other holidays I’ve celebrated.”

“So then you can’t say I’m wrong when I say this will be the best.”

Evan closes his eyes and shakes his head while letting out a small laugh. 

“We’ll see about that,” he chuckles and as he looks up to meet Meg’s eyes from across the bed, butterflies flutter in her stomach at just how at peace he looks in that moment.

She could look at him every day of her life.

Quickly shoving that thought down, she looks away and begins gathering clothes to change into, swallowing a growing lump in her throat at her realization.

Is that a normal thing to think about friends?

Because Evan and her…they’re just friends, right?

Just friends.

“I’ll go change and meet you downstairs,” she says, rushing out of the room, getting ready in a bathroom down the hall.

After a few minutes, she feels presentable enough as she goes downstairs to see the front door already open letting in freezing cold air.

Running over to close it, she sees Nea, David, Dwight, and Ace already outside throwing very poorly made snowballs at each other while yelling very intense disproportionate insults at each other.

“I’ll kill ya where ya stand, Karlsson!” David yells, hurling a snowball at Nea that mostly crumbles before it even reaches her.

“Yeah? I’d like to you see you try.I’ll kick your ass before you even knew what hit you!” She yells, throwing an equally pathetic snowball right back at him.

Meg smiles but quickly gets distracted by Claudette from the kitchen.

“Close the door! You’re letting out the already very small amount of warm air we have!”

Following her orders, Meg closes the door and walks over to the kitchen seeing Kate and Claud sitting at the table writing things down on an old notepad.

“You two not coming with us?” Meg asks from the doorway.

“No, I’ve never been one for crowds.We’re going to go get some ingredients for cookies so we can make them when you guys get back,” Claudette answers with a smile.

“Go have fun without us, honey.And try to keep Ace from spending all of his money, okay? I know he’s paying for most of the presents but…we gotta make it last somehow.”

“I’ll try, but you know how Ace is.He’ll find a way to spend the money even if I have my back turned for two seconds.”

Kate lets out a laugh, shaking her head.“You’re right.We can only pray for that man.”

The three share a quiet moment of solidarity, and before long, Evan comes downstairs to join them.

With the brief distraction of the snowball war going on outside, and Kate and Claudette, Meg nearly forgets why she rushed out of the room earlier, and is thankful when Evan doesn’t bring it up.

“Ready to go?” Evan asks, holding out his hand for Meg to take like it’s second nature as they go outside to join the others.

\---

2\. The Mall

“So…where are we?” Evan asks Meg as they get out of the too-small van they called to take them on their Christmas Eve shopping excursion.

“At the mall, dummy.Gotta get some Christmas shopping done now that we can actually have any sort of material things that aren’t flashlights or med-kits.” Nea interrupts, already walking around the car to grab Meg’s arm.

“Well there goes all of my ideas for you,” Meg whispers, nudging her friend with a small laugh.

“I understand we are at a mall, but what is it?” Evan says, ignoring Meg and Nea’s small banter as he stops walking.

“What do you mean what is it? Did you not have malls in your time?” Nea asks loudly, causing stares from a few shoppers they pass.

“No,” Evan says bluntly, frowning at the giant building. 

“Oh,” Nea visibly deflates before shrugging and nudging Meg beside her as they begin to walk.“Well gotta get with the times.”

Evan hesitates as he looks from one end of the mall to the other, dramatically moving his head to look at the two story mall they walk towards.

“It’s just a huge building with a lot of stores in it,” Meg explains as Evan takes a few steps to catch up. 

“I see,” Evan mumbles, brushing his hand against Meg’s as they walk, and instinctively she reaches out and takes his hand in hers, lacing their fingers together.It only takes a few steps to realize what she did and almost immediately, her cheeks turn a bright shade of red like her hair as she walks, but when she looks up to see Evan’s reaction at their very public handholding, it seems that he doesn’t mind as he walks straight forward, the corner of his mouth turned upward just a little bit.

As they walk, Nea breaks off from Meg and joins Ace leading the group towards the huge glass entrance, leaving Meg and Evan a little bit a ways away from the rest.

They begin to pass more people the closer they get to the entrance, and quickly Meg notices how many eyes are on them, making her palms begin to sweat at the way everyone stares before glancing away when she makes eye contact with them.

What are they all staring at?

“There are so many people,” Evan observes, his voice low as he looks around with a huge frown on his face, and suddenly Meg knows what they’re staring at.

It isn’t every day that you see a man as big and frighteningly intimidating as Evan MacMillan, but if only they knew him.

Knew how gentle and caring he is, or how his footsteps are surprisingly light for someone his size, and how one of his favorite past times has become brushing her hair before they crawl into bed together and fall asleep in each other’s arms.

If only they knew how much of a good person he is.

Giving his hand a reassuring squeeze, they reach the entrance and pause as Dwight speaks up.

“So where do you guys want to go first?”

“I don’t even know where to start honestly,” Meg says, as Evan’s thumb rubs lazy circles over her hand.“I just kind of want to look at everything.”

“Well I have some ideas in mind where I want to go,” Ace comments, scratching his head as he takes a few moments to look at himself in the reflection of the glass.“So we could split up, get some shopping done.”

“That s’alright with me,” David says as he puts an arm around Dwight’s waist.“I have a few places in mind we can go that you guys might wanna stay away from.”

“Oh gross,” Nea rolls her eyes.“Do you two always have to be so horny? Keep it in your pants every once in awhile.”

“Aye, ’s not like we’re off havin’ sex.Jus’ wanna get a few things ’s all,” David says, already dragging Dwight off with him with a flippant wave of his hand.

Nea groans and looks between Meg and Evan, and Ace.

Rolling her eyes and groaning again she turns from Meg and Evan to face Ace who is now smiling at his own reflection as he leans forward, making sure nothing is in his teeth.

“You know this is a literal window and people can see you, right?” Meg points out with a small laugh.

“Yeah, but it’s none of their business.It’s their fault for watching, just gotta look my best.”

“Well if you can stop looking at your reflection for long enough, can I go around with you? I’d rather not third-wheel those two,” Nea says, pointing to Meg and Evan over her shoulder.

“Nea what? You wouldn’t be a third wheel,” Meg tries to reassure Nea only to be interrupted immediately.

“Yeah? So we all gonna hold hands and act like we’re all in a relationship?” she says with a smirk, her eyes flicking down at their interlocked fingers, and when Meg only frowns at her argument, Nea crosses her arms as her smile grows bigger. “I’m going with Ace.”

Meg glances up at Evan who doesn’t seem to be paying attention to the conversation around him as his head swivels around, still trying to take in, well, everything.

“Okay fine.Meet back here in an hour?”

“Deal.”

\---

3.Christmas Present Shopping

Sights, smells, noises all foreign to Meg hit her like a ton of bricks as soon as they open the doors to go inside.

Children laughing, and some screaming, people laughing and the idle white noise of hundreds of voices talking fill the air along with Christmas music that echos through the vast walkways.Kiosks line the middle of the aisles filled with people trying to get customers to stop by, others are making cotton candy in the shape of animals, and one little kiosk even has an elderly man making hand-made blown glass with a small blow torch.

Meg doesn’t know what to focus on first as they begin to pass shops, squeezing through groups of people walking past, and for a moment, she almost feels overwhelmed.There’s so much to focus on, so much to see, and when Evan’s grip on her hand tightens almost painfully, only then does she look up to check in on him.

His eyes are wide, shifting around like a wild animal.

If she’s overwhelmed by things that she knows exists, she can’t even imagine how Evan could be feeling in that moment seeing new technology, hearing new sounds, smelling new foods and the faint undertone of plastic that fills the air. 

Pushing down her own overwhelming thoughts, she tries to distract him, even a little bit.

“So what do you want for Christmas?” Meg asks Evan, pulling him aside, stopping just shy of a candle store, various scents filling her senses as she stares up at Evan.He stops and looks down at Meg, his face softening.

“I don’t need anything,” Evan responds with a small laugh that only makes Meg scowl and point a slender finger up at him.

“I didn’t ask if you needed anything.I asked what you want.Big difference,” she replies while looking around at what stores are close.

On the car ride over she was so excited to get something for him, treat him just a little bit after everything he has done for her and her friends.He deserves so much that Meg can’t even begin to give him, so finding something for her favorite holiday will have to do for now.

Across the way there is a small store that doesn’t have a lot of people in it, but something in the window catches her eye and makes her smile. 

“The only thing I want is to spend the day with you,” Evan smiles down at her while reaching up to run the back of his finger down the side of her face. 

“That’s a nice sentiment and all, but I’m getting you something,” Meg says leaning into his touch for a moment before pulling away to eye the small item in the store window.“Stay here, I’ll be right back.”

She doesn’t wait for a response as she forces her way through people walking in every direction, determination clear on her mind as she digs into her pocket to fish out the money Ace gave everyone. 

It was nice, too nice almost for him to give them all some money to get presents, and Meg takes a mental note that she needs to make it up to him somehow, but that’s a problem for future Meg.Right now, she is focused on getting Evan the perfect present. 

Quickly looking around the shop, she sees a few small displays filled with what was in the window, and grabbing up the items in her arms, she dumps them on the counter where a small, tired woman rings up her stuff while making idle smalltalk that Meg hardly listens to. 

As soon as she gets her stuff, she walks out of the store, stuffing her receipt into the flimsy plastic bag, she expects Evan to be standing outside where she left him, but her chest grips when he’s nowhere near her.

Immediately thinking about the worst case scenario, her palms sweat and her heart rate picks up as she whips her head back and forth, looking for him.

It’s not like he can easily blend in a crowd, especially being so much taller and bigger than anyone else, but yet he’s nowhere.

Swallowing a bit of her panic, she knows he has to be around. 

Right?

But he wouldn’t just leave…

Then there are people that would make him leave; killers that they have encountered while being out.

Jed.

Herman.

Even Jeffrey.

But…no…no that’s ridiculous.

Swallowing bubbling panic, Meg knows that the mall would be the last place they’d see anyone else.

She just has to be rational.He could have gone to the bathroom, or gotten distracted at another store or…

His head pops up above a small kiosk a little ways down from the small store she stood in front of and relief washes over her.

Thank god…okay…

Taking in a deep breath, she does a small little hop before jogging over to him, grasping her bag tight in her hand so he can’t see inside once she reaches him. 

“Hey,” she greets him as she gets closer, “What’re you-“ her words are cut off by the sight she sees as she sees what he was looking at, and she erupts into a fit of laughter, unable to contain the sight.

They’re next to a kiosk with a bunch of children’s toys: slime, slinkies, legos, splat balls, anything a kid could want, but on the ground is a small toy dog that shuffles around on it’s tiny paws and occasionally does backflips while letting out robotic sounding barks.

Evan scowls down at the tiny toy that could most likely fit in the palm of his hand if he were to pick it up, and as he crouches down next to it to examine it once more, it does a flip, startling Evan with a jump. 

“How…” he mutters to himself like he is trying to figure out the hardest math equation.“How does it work?”

A nice young lady comes over and starts excitedly talking about the dog, completely ignoring the looming presence Evan has in that moment as she tells him pricing and how his kids would love a toy like that.

Evan doesn’t seem to pay her any mind as he continues looking at the small dog, jumping every time it barks and does a flip.

“Okay, big guy,” Meg says between giggles as she places a hand on his shoulder. “You done playing with the toys or are you ready to go?”

“This is a toy?” He exclaims, gesturing down at the dog.“This is…I’ve never seen anything like this.How is it a toy? What is it?”

The kind woman who is charge of the kiosk takes a step back and looks between Meg and Evan, unsure of what to say, so instead of saying anything, she slowly walks to the other side and begins talking to a couple and their two young kids who grab excitedly at slime on display.

“It’s just a small machine,” Meg snickers, covering her mouth as she looks up at Evan without moving her head.His frown deepens as he looks back at the dog. 

“And kids just play with machines nowadays?”

“Well, I guess if you put it like that, yes.”

Evan hums, as he finally turns his attention away from the dog and back to Meg, and only then does she notice that he has a small bag grasped in one of his hands.

“What’s in the bag?” She asks, changing the subject as she stands on her tip-toes to try and get a better look when Evan snatches it towards his chest and turns away. 

“It’s for you.You may not have been the only one who wanted to get something,” Evan admitted, his words coming out from his mouth fast.

The fact that Evan got her something makes Meg’s heart flutter as she takes a step back allowing Evan to put down the bag and take her free hand into his, walking away from the toy kiosk.

Lacing their fingers together, Meg grips his hand tight, trying not to cry at just how appreciative she is in that moment for everything, for him. 

“It isn’t one of those small toy dogs, is it?” Meg jokes as she breaks the silence between them.

“No,” Evan chuckles, “Though that would have been even better.”

“There’s always next year, I suppose,” Meg jokes as she slowly gets closer to Evan the more they walk until she is practically glued to his side, not wanting to be apart for the rest of the walk.

The two fall into a comfortable silence as they both look around, taking in everything in a much less overwhelming sense than before and just enjoying the moment together where they can almost feel like real people.

Real people who weren’t tortured for years.

Real people who have a normal life outside of the mall.

A job.

A house.

Bills.

They’re just two adults that enjoy each other’s company and don’t have a haunting, bloody past that has connected them in unimaginable ways.

It feels strange, foreign, but Meg thinks she will never be able to get enough of this feeling.

“Ah you two,” a tall man stops them as they pass a small perfume kiosk, interrupting Meg’s thoughts.“What a beautiful couple.Here, want a free sample?”

The man shoves a small bottle in their hands without waiting for a reply as he starts talking about different high-quality perfumes and colognes they sell for an “unbelievably” low price.

“For a husband and wife, this one is perfect.Very complimentary for a lovely couple, if I say so myself,” the man jabbers on as Meg politely nods her head and Evan stands there holding the small sample of cologne in his giant hand making it look ridiculously small. 

Meg smiles at Evan, only imagining what he could be thinking about this pushy man trying to sell him, the ultimate businessman, something so cheap.Despite the very overly-annoying attitude of this salesman, Meg has to admit that an odd warm feeling comes to her chest every time he refers to them as a married couple, and she doesn’t mind the sound of that.

She doesn’t mind that people look at them like that.

She actually kind of likes it.

So she lets this man keep talking, listening every now and then until Evan finally speaks up, oddly polite even for what Meg is used to him sounding.

“My wife already has very nice perfume, thank you.”

Hearing Evan refer to her as his wife is enough to make Meg dizzy but she quickly latches on to the idea.

“As my husband said,” Evan gives her hand a squeeze as soon as husband leaves her mouth, “we are okay, but thank you.Merry Christmas.” 

The two begin walking with Meg holding in a fit of giggles until they are far enough away for her to burst out into laughter.

“Guess we really are an old married couple, huh? Nea was right,” she says.

“It does have a nice ring to it,” Evan muses with a smirk on his face.

“Oh really? So is this your way of proposing?” Meg jokes back as she sees Ace and Nea carrying a large box towards them a little ways down the mall.

“No,” Evan says more serious now, his voice soft as he continues, “I’d plan it out so it’s a little more romantic.”

Oh.

Meg’s eyes widen at the tone in his voice as her head snaps up at him.Is he saying what she thinks he’s saying?

No…no he can’t be.

It was just their normal banter.

Nea calls out to them as they get closer, effectively interrupting Meg’s beginning racing thoughts on the matter and quickly she gets distracted by the large flat box Ace juggles in his arms.

“What did you…” Meg begins to ask but then realizes what she’s looking at.

“Aye look at what we bought!” Nea exclaims excitedly while slapping the box with a loud crack.

“You bought a TV?!”

“Yeah,” Ace smiles.“Got it for everyone, so don’t expect a personal gift anytime soon.”

“And how much did that cost?”

“I got it on sale, it’s all good.No need to worry,” Ace winks at Meg before shuffling the tv in his arms.

“Well that’s great and all, but how’re you going to plug it into a house with no modern electrical sockets?” Meg asks.

“Ah, see! That’s the cool part.There’s this thing called solar power so we bought a solar powered generator that will plug into the tv and, voilà! Power!”

“And you’re sure that’ll work?” Meg raises a skeptical eyebrow.

“That’s what the kid said at the store,” Ace shrugs.“Guess we just gotta wait and see.It’ll be fine,” Ace says, drawing out the word ‘fine’ long enough that doesn’t give Meg the impression that it would, indeed, be fine.

But that’s not her problem, and she’s just happy with what she bought today that she knows will be fine.

“We also got some Christmas decorations if you didn’t notice,” Nea says lifting up a giant bag she held in one hand.“We ran into David earlier and I told him to find some fake tree at one of the department stores for us.”

Meg practically jumps at the sound of that, falling into excitedly chatter about decorations with Nea as the group makes their way towards the middle of the mall hoping to find David and Dwight so they can get home and start decorating.

\---

4\. Santa

As the group passes the middle of the mall, Meg is the first to notice David and Dwight sitting next to a beautiful giant water fountain.

“You guys ready to go?” Nea yells as they get closer, not caring that there are other people around or that her yelling in the mall maybe isn’t the most polite thing to do.

The two men get up from their spot and meet the group halfway, and before anyone can say anything else, Dwight speaks up as he gestures over to a large Christmas tree and photo opportunity with Santa set up.

“Yeah but before we leave, we have to go get pictures taken with Santa,” Dwight says excitedly, practically jumping up and down in the middle of the mall like a kid on Christmas.“My family and I used to do that every year.We’d dress all nice, get our picture taken, and hang it above our stockings for the year.”

“Yeah?” Nea speaks up, “When you say you dressed nice, did you dress in that elf outfit you had in the realm?”

“Oh yeah, that was pretty cute,” Meg smiles.“I wonder if we could find an outfit like that so you can wear it here.I remember how much you loved it.”

“What?” Dwight stutters, the tips of his ears getting red.“No, that was my job, thank you very much.I’m perfectly fine in these clothes.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Dwight says as he glances over to the very similar looking elf clothes that the Santa helper employees are wearing as they help wrangle a very loud set of twins from climbing on Santa’s chair.

As though reading everyone’s mind, Meg speaks up, raising an eyebrow at the scene going on in front of them, “So you worked for a mall Santa, and that didn’t scar you in any way? You still want to get pictures?”

“Well obviously! Nothing can ruin the spirit of getting pictures with Santa,” Dwight says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.“It’ll be fun and you guys know it.”

“Hey I never said it wouldn’t be fun,” Nea throws her hands up in defense. 

“So let’s do it.”

David and Ace don’t object as they get in line with them, but Evan stays back letting go of Meg’s hand as she begins to join them in line.

“What’s wrong?” she asks, stopping to turn to him.

“Nothing.You go get the picture with your friends.I’m okay over here,” Evan insisted. 

“Uh, no you aren’t,” Meg fights back.“You’re just as much a part of this group as any of us.You’re getting your picture taken with Santa.”

“I really don’t-“

“Yes you really do,” Meg argues already grabbing a hold of his hand and dragging him into the line.He doesn’t fight back as he lets Meg walk him over, and soon they are all posing next to the nice-looking Santa.The spectacle is over in just a few seconds and as they walk by, a bored elf hands Meg the prints of the group picture. 

Quickly they walk out of the way and huddle around her, all wanting to get a good look at the picture.

David and Dwight posed off to the side, David looking at the camera with a smirk and his hand on Dwight’s ass, who, judging by the picture, didn’t know that would happen and looks shocked.Nea and Ace are to the other side of Santa with Ace shooting finger guns and Nea crossing her arms looking smug.Then there’s Meg and Evan, standing just behind Nea.

Honestly, Meg has never seen herself look so happy in any pictures that she can remember, and then as she looks at Evan, she realizes he wasn’t even looking at the camera.He was looking down at her, a warm smile on his face with his dimple facing the camera, looking at her with a look of admiration, care, and if Meg didn’t know any better, love.

Looking up at Evan, he stares down at the picture then flicks his eyes over to meet Meg’s.The two share an unspoken connection, both equally lost in their own world as Ace grabs the picture from Meg’s hand.

“Oh, that’s beautiful,” Ace says, holding out the picture before fanning himself with it.“I mean I’m the best looking one here, but the rest of you don’t look too bad.We gotta hang this up at the house.” 

\---

5\. Christmas cookies

As the group arrives back home, everyone splits up in smaller separate groups with most of them going into the living room to try and find a way to work a modern day television into an old untouched 19th century house. 

Meg, not interested in trying to figure that out, goes to find Claudette and Kate to see their progress as far as cookies go.

Entering the kitchen, she sees Claudette running around mumbling to herself as she looks around the kitchen.

“Claud? You okay?” Meg asks, genuinely wondering what is happening or if she missed some super secret cookie disaster.

“We need to make a list,” Claudette speaks up as she circles around the kitchen, opening and closing various drawers as though looking for something in particular.“Kate and I went to the store, but we need to plan it out.”

“Plan what out?” Meg scoffs, crossing her arms as she watches the frazzled woman tear apart the kitchen.“Aren’t you just making cookies? Like chocolate chip and sugar?”

“Chocolate chip and su- Meg Thomas have you lost your mind?” Claudette turns around to face her, putting her hands on her hips and frowning.“This is Christmas.This is no time for everyday cookies like that.”

“Every day cookies? Well excuse me, I didn’t know there were certain cookies for different times of the year,” Meg laughs, enjoying how Claudette is taking this one task way too seriously.

“Of course there are! Gingerbread, nutmeg cookie logs, Russian tea cakes-“ Claudette begins naming off cookies Meg has never heard of and as the list goes on, Meg’s eyes glaze over, not quite focusing on what Claudette is saying but that there is still so much she doesn’t know about her.

“Are you even listening?” Claudette asks her while throwing up her hands.

That gets Meg back into the conversation as she shakes her head, amazed by the amount of cookies she never knew existed.

“Yes,” Meg stumbles, not quite knowing how many she missed out on with her zoning out, but she recognized the tone in Claudette’s voice enough to know that she should probably have been listening.

Claudette stops and crosses her arms, her demeanor changing suddenly.

“I’m sorry, Meg,” Claudette says with a sigh as she leans against the counter and puts her head down on the smooth marble. 

“No, it’s okay-“ Meg starts to say, but she’s interrupted by Claudette’s muffled voice as she talks, not looking up from the counter.

“I used to bake Christmas cookies with my dad every year.Later in life, my mom joined in and it became a tradition for us.They’d make so much, our whole kitchen became a cooling rack for cookies and I just…I got really excited to be able to make Christmas cookies again.”

“Oh Claud,” Meg says, walking over and resting a hand on her back, rubbing small circles as she continues, “That sounds amazing.Honestly, I wish I could have experienced that.I could only imagine what the three of you looked like, crazed, covered in flour, cookies as far as the eye can see.”

Claudette lets out a soft laugh as she lifts her head.

“We really looked crazy but…it was us, and it was fun.I just wanted to feel that again, you know?”

“Of course.So yes, let’s make a list, although I probably won’t be much help, but I’m sure that whatever you and Kate decide will be amazing.”

“Thank you, Meg.That’s sweet.I mean, I can make some chocolate chip or sugar cookies if that’s something you want too.They’re pretty easy and I can-“

“No,” Meg says, crossing her arms.“You’re hyping up these other cookies, I want to try them.You do what makes you feel the best, okay?”

“But…are you sure? They’re so easy…”

“Will it make you feel better to make some?” Meg asks, raising an eyebrow and smiling at her friend.

“Yeah.The other ones are fun, but I want to make some for you too,” Claudette says, smiling back at Meg.

“Then it’s a deal.I’ve heard a lot about these famous cookies of yours.Never thought I could actually try them.”

“Well, I never thought I could ever make them again,” Claudette says, looking away and sighing before straightening her back.“But here we are.I’m going to find Kate, then we should get started.Don’t get into any of the chocolate as soon as I leave the room.”

“Yeah yeah, Mama Claudette,” Meg jokes, waving her hand towards Claudette who just rolls her eyes with a smile as she walks out of the kitchen. 

Meg looks around the kitchen at all of the ingredients they got while the rest of them were shopping, and she can’t even imagine why they’d need five bags of flour among other obscene amounts of chocolate, butter, sugar, and every other thing they could put in. 

She tries to think about the cookies Claudette said they were going to make in order to keep other intrusive thoughts at bay, like how her mom and her would always make chocolate chip cookies on Christmas Eve, or how when her mom was too sick to help, Meg would bake them along with cinnamon rolls to have the next morning.

But this seemed like it meant so much more to Claudette, she didn’t want to intrude at the thought of making chocolate chip cookies, so she smiles, grateful that Claudette said she’d make some along with everything else.

Not long after, Claudette and Kate come into the kitchen and get started with Meg hovering around occasionally making conversation or just trying to taste all the different cookie dough batters when neither of the other two were looking.

Soon the kitchen begins to fill the house with smells Meg only ever dreamed of smelling again, and her mouth begins watering before she knows it, and like a heavenly bell, the first timer dings.

Claudette rushes over to take the cookies from the oven and trade places with Kate as she sticks another batch of a completely different looking cookie inside.

“Cookies are still hot, but they’re done!” Claudette yells as she slides the cookies onto a cooling rack.

Meg can hardly contain her excitement as she reaches for one, only to have her hand smacked by the spatula Claudette holds like a weapon.

“I said they’re hot, wait until they cool a bit.”

“You said they were done!”

“That doesn’t mean they’re ready.Patience, Meg.”

“What difference would it make if I just had a little nibble?” Meg asks, slowly reaching for the corner of one of the cookies.

“Meg Thomas, do I have to kick you out of the kitchen?” Claudette waves the spatula at her threateningly.

“Aye, did I hear cookies are done?” David comes in with Nea following close behind him.

“Apparently not,” Meg replies, disappointment clear in her voice.“They’re ‘done’ but not ready.”

“What kind of shite is that?” David asks, joining Meg as they look at the melty, gooey cookies just tempting them on the counter.

“I didn’t expect to have you three rush in here immediately.I just wanted to give you a warning so when they’re cool, they’d be ready.”

“They’re cooked right?” Nea asks, peeking over Meg’s shoulder.

“Yes.”

“So that means they’re done,” she says, reaching under Meg’s arm to try to sneakily grab one.

Claudette isn’t fooled in the slightest when she steps in between the cookies and the hungry trio that just wants a damn cookie. 

“Okay that’s it.Out.I’ll bring them out when they’re done.”

“Claudette….”

“Out!”

The three glance over at Kate for any sort of help but as she only laughs to herself and proceeds to mix more in a separate bowl, they give up, sulking out of the kitchen like dejected toddlers.

\---

6.Christmas tree decorating

“Oi! Help us with this tree, won’t you?” David calls Evan over with a tilt of his head as he begins unboxing the fake tree he found earlier. 

Evan was simply on his way passing the living room when David calls out, so he stops and as he looks into the living room, the whole place looks way different than he has ever seen it.

There is tinsel and garland hung around the place, as well as a few wreaths hung on the wall over the fireplace.Then his eyes catch the Santa picture from earlier propped up above the fireplaces with eight stockings hung on the mantle, one for everyone despite not having gifts to fill it with, but it looks nice to him anyway.

“I suppose.How can I help?” He answers back as he walks in the room, still taking a closer look at the stockings.They’re simple: red with a big white letter, representing all of them.As his eyes scan each letter, a part of him doesn’t expect to see his own, but when he gets to the right side, there is a big E and a big M side-by-side, and it only makes his chest tighten.

“Well with decoratin’.I could reach the top, easy,” David starts off by saying, “But you still have a bit of a height advantage.Suppose we could use you.”

“Plus we have some questions,” Nea answers from behind Evan as she carries in a bag with sounds of metal clinking as she walks.

“Questions,” Evan repeats slowly.“I may have answers.”

“Oh, we wouldn’t let you leave without the answers, big guy,” Nea says sternly as she drops the bag with a loud crash beside the already set up tree.

“Careful there,” Ace scolds Nea as he comes into the room, “Those may have been cheap but we only have a limited supply.Take it easy.”

“What are you talking about? Easy is my middle name,” Nea retaliates before realizing exactly what she said and as she does, she frowns, “Wait, no…okay anyways,” she hurries on before either of the men in the room could make some joke, “Evan we have ornaments in this bag.If you could hang them up along the top branches since we can’t reach.”

“Aye,” David snaps, “I could reach.”

“Mhm, okay sure,” Nea nods her head slowly before turning to Evan who is already reaching in the bag to find small metal and plastic ornaments of all different colors.Grabbing a red one, he stares at it for a moment before placing it on the tree, only to have it immediately fall off and crash onto the floor.

The four of them all look at the ornament for a moment before Evan slowly picks it up, not mentioning how it didn’t stay in the first place as he hangs it back up again.

“So where’d you grow up?” Nea asks as she unwraps a tangled mess of gold beads.

Evan pauses before slowly responding, “Here.”

“Ah.”

Awkward silence falls through the group before Ace clears his throat, asking the next question, “So how did your family afford this place?”

Evan hesitates as he picks up another ornament, thinking it really isn’t any of their business on what happened even if they do know a summary of his past.

“We owned a profitable mining operation, the largest in the pacific northwest.The money came in just as fast as we exported our own goods.Business flourished thus we could afford such a place.”

The three others nodded along, helping with ornaments while handing tinsel and beads to each other, wrapping it around the tree as Evan talked.They continued asking questions about him becoming less invasive as he expected like what his favorite food was and what he liked to do in his spare time, and soon the others began talking about their own lives, where they grew up, and special stories before they were taken.

Evan quickly grows more comfortable as the decorating went on and as the tree was finished, he feels oddly satisfied at their work, if not a bit disappointed that their time is cut short, but as soon as they take a step back and admire their collective work, they hear Claudette calling from the kitchen, ““Cookies are still hot, but they’re done!”

And at that, David and Nea rush out without another word leaving Ace and Evan alone in the living room.

“So, big guy,” Ace as he collapses into one of the chairs, “We all know you and our lil firecracker have something going on, and Nea said she’s tried to talk to you about it, but look, man-to-man, what’s going on?”

Evan stutters, looking over his shoulder at the hallway before he replies to Ace, not quite knowing what to say.

“As I’ve said to Nea,” he begins, collecting his thoughts as he begins folding up the bags all of the decorations came in.“Meg has become more important to me than I’d ever think, and that’s all I know, and I believe that’s all she knows.We…”

“You fuckin’?" Ace asks, slinging his arm across the back of the armchair he slinks down in.

“Excuse me?” Evan coughs out, surprised by the absolute crass question.

“I asked-“

“Ugh, so apparently Claudette lied,” Nea complains loudly as she comes back in the room, interrupting Ace, much to Evan’s relief.“Cookies aren’t ready, so we were thinking, now that’s it’s still snowing outside, we could go build a snowman or some shit.Pass time somehow until later?” Nea asks shrugging her shoulders as she looks between Ace and Evan.

“I’m too old to be playing out in the snow for a second time today, you kids go have fun,” Ace says as he pushes himself up from the chair.“I’ll go keep the girls in the kitchen company, or maybe I’ll try to get the TV working…”

“Well whatever you do, the rest of us will be outside,” Nea jumps at the opportunity, already jogging towards the front door, excited to play and be out in real snow again for the first time in years.

\---

7\. Playing in the snow

Without another word Nea, Meg dragging Evan along, Dwight, and David all trudge outside into the falling snow, and immediately Nea gets to work in the vast front yard, trying to roll snowballs together to make a snowman in the front yard, and as much as she isn’t making progress, when Dwight and David come to help, their progress declines rapidly. 

“So, is this normal?” Evan asks while Meg and him still stand on the front porch, huddled together for warmth, as well as simply not wanting to be apart. 

“What do you mean?” Meg asks laughing.“Like playing in the snow?”

“Yeah.I’ve never heard of playing in it.It was fine to look at, I remember that, but willingly being out in such a cold and wet substance, I don’t understand.”

Meg lets out a laugh before replying as she pulls away from Evan, gathering up wet snow into her hand and running off the front porch. 

“It’s fun if you just give it a try,” she yells as she spins around and throws a wet snowball at Evan.

It lands on his broad chest and dissolves quickly but the way Evan looks down and slowly looks back up almost reminds Meg of how he looked in the trials, but it doesn’t scare her, not in the slightest, since there is a small smirk on his face as he marches down from the porch and bends down grabbing a fistful of snow.

“Hey,” she warns, putting up her hands and backing up slowly, “I was just showing you the spirit of it.You don’t have to-“

Without a warning, Evan throws the snowball at Meg and it hits her on her shoulder as she tries to dodge it. 

“You!” she laughs loudly, losing any sort of coherent sentence as she grabs more snow to throw at him.Packing it tight, she throws it at Evan who tries to move out of the way but slips halfway through, almost falling on the ground.“You okay?” She asks as she begins to rush over, but when she gets close, he throws another snowball at her with a laugh so loud, too loud for him, she can hardly recognize it coming from Evan MacMillan himself. 

“I am now,” he says as the snowball hits her stomach and she stops, surprised at the betrayal. 

“That was dirty!” Meg argues, brushing the snow from her clothes as determination fills her chest.“Oh you’re gonna get it.”

Bending down to pick up more snow, Evan beats her to it as the top of her head is hit with another snowball and as soon as she looks up, he’s in front of her, threatening to throw another one.

“You don’t want to do that,” she warns, holding snow in her hand, ready to retaliate should he choose to fight. 

“I think I do,” he purrs, holding up a handful of snow above his head just as intimidatingly, and suddenly, the two try to hit each other with the snow but end up smacking each other and losing their balance.Meg falls forward, her foot slipping on the wet snow, as Evan goes backwards and suddenly, she’s on top of him, breathing heavily and covered in snow.

Evan’s breaths come just as fast as they stare at each other, snow falling gently around them and the smiles on their faces fading slowly the longer they sink into their own world.Meg can feel every inch of Evan below her as her face is mere inches from his, and her eyes roam his reddening face from the cold. 

She could easily lean forward, and like a magnetic force, she wants to, but as their eyes flick down to their lips and back up, Ace comes outside.

“I think I got the TV to work! If you want to experience the future, I suggest you come inside!”

The trance Meg and Evan fell under was quickly broken and like there was a jolt of electricity shooting between them, Meg scrambles to get up with an awkward laugh as she helps Evan up off the ground.

“You okay?” she asks, out of breath.

He nods, still staring at Meg, his chest heaving up and down.David and Dwight quickly rush inside with Nea taking her time, careful not to slip, and as Meg nods back, she gets closer to the porch.

“So, you get it to work?” Meg yells as she grabs Evan’s hand without a second thought and pulls him behind her.

“Don’t worry about it.It’s fine,” Ace replies, beckoning them closer.

“Okay well will the house burn down?”

“Eh, dunno,” Ace shrugs, “We’ll take care of that if it comes to it.”

Meg shakes her head with a smile and walks past Ace, thankful as the house greets them, hugging her with warmth as they make their way to the living room.

\---

8\. Christmas movies

When Meg turns the corner inside,she is hit with intense warmth when she sees Claudette over by the roaring fire.

“Figured you children would be cold when you got back inside,” she teases as she points a finger at both Meg and Evan.“You can’t be outside in such cold temperatures playing in the snow for so long.You’ll get sick.”

“We can take care of ourselves, Claud,” Meg laughs.“But the fire is nice, thank you.It was pretty cold in here without it anyway.”

“You’re welcome,” Claud nods, ignoring the second part before a timer goes off in the kitchen.“Oh! The brownies must be done.” 

She immediately gets up and rushes into the kitchen, all while mumbling to herself things about the brownies being burnt and she hopes they weren’t in there too long.

Meg smiles up at Evan as they see Dwight and David already in the living room, with Dwight fiddling with the TV, putting in a mysterious dvd.

“What’re we watching?”

“The Muppet’s Christmas Carol!” Dwight says excitedly.

“Oh! I know of the Christmas Carol,” Evan speaks up, sounding so oddly proud of that fact that Meg can’t help but laugh at his reaction.“We have the book around here somewhere…”

“Well this isn’t the book and it has muppets in it,” Dwight says, excitedly sitting down next to David, who immediately raises his arm and puts it around Dwight’s shoulders bringing him in close while they settle into the couch.

Evan doesn’t have much of a reaction except for frowning while he thinks for a moment before saying, “Muppets? What is a muppet?”

“They’re basically puppets, but like…furry and stuff,” Nea answers, coming in the room with a bottle of vodka in her hand.

“So wouldn’t that just be called a puppet? Why make another name for them?” Evan replies shuffling closer to Meg as he lets Nea pass by and take a seat on the floor next to David’s legs.One of them made a pile of blankets on the floor as a way for them to all sit comfortably.

“Because they deserve their own classification.They’re truly an icon of media,” Nea says, swinging the vodka bottle in front of her before taking a swig and passing it to David.

Meg smiles and shakes her head.“I never took you to be such a connoisseur of Muppets.”

“Who isn’t? You’d have to be insane not to like them!” Nea laughs, taking another swig of vodka. 

Meg doesn’t quite remember watching anything with muppets growing up, but she remembers them, and she’s excited to actually watch a movie…something she hasn’t done in a decade.

She can hardly contain her excitement as she grabs Evan’s hand and pulls him next to her, taking a seat between Nea and him.

“I don’t understand-“ Evan says, sitting down with a loud thud on the floor.Without a second thought, he grabs a blanket and throws it over his and Meg’s lap while scowling at the TV.

“And this…”

“This is like the thing we saw at the hospital,” Meg replies, smiling at Evan’s increased confusion.“It’s a TV.This is a movie so…it was filmed, like a picture, but it moves.Just…watch.”

He lets out a hum of confusion but doesn’t say anything more as the credits at the beginning movie starts and a very cheerful song starts playing.

As soon as it starts, Meg thinks she recognizes the movie, something about it screams in her subconscious.She probably watched it with her mom, that’s the only reasonable time, and that thought alone is enough to make her smile and her chest tighten. 

Even though puppets fill the screen, she feels comforted, and without thinking about it, she leans into Evan, who lifts up an arm and puts it around her shoulders, bringing her in close. 

Resting her head on his chest with a permanent smile on her face, she gets lost in the movie for a bit, enjoying the music, the story, and just relaxing with Evan, with her friends. 

There was never a time like this.The moments that came close were the ones where they would try to dramatically retell movies, but it was never the same as just being in the moment, having no care in the world, and she can’t get enough. 

The only thing to pull her out of her trance is Evan softly chuckling, his chest moving up and down. 

Lifting her head, she sees Evan smiling, actually smiling at the screen despite still looking a bit confused.The sight alone makes her heart flutter and she finds that watching him is almost more entertaining than the movie itself. 

It takes Evan a minute to notice that he’s being watched so closely, and when he glances down at Meg, the smile fades from his face and he clears his throat. 

“What is it?” Evan asks flicking his eyes back to the movie.

“I was just watching you.”

“While I watched the movie?”

“Mhm.”

“I can’t be any more entertaining than this.”

“Eh, I don’t know about that.I was enjoying it.”

“Shut up you two, my favorite song is coming on,” Nea hisses at them as she smacks Meg on her lower leg.

Meg playfully kicks her back and settles back into Evan’s chest, quickly becoming engrossed in the movie once more.

Not long after, the movie winds down and as the credits begin to roll, Evan, surprisingly, is the first to speak up.

“That was…nice.”

“Nice? Just nice?” Nea asks, throwing the blanket from her lap and slamming down the now half empty vodka bottle.“This is a classic! A masterpiece!”

And before Evan can respond, Meg speaks up, not moving from Evan’s grasp, still watching the credits roll on the black screen. 

“I enjoyed it.I never thought I’d be emotional over puppets.”

“Muppets,” Dwight corrects her before wiping tears that begin to fall from his eyes.

“Wait, were you cryin’?” David asks, pulling away from him enough to get a better view of his face.“Man, don’t tell me that this movie got t’ ya.”

“It just…” Dwight takes in a shaky breath, “It’s so good.That last song…it’s so…”

Everyone exchanges glances before laughing to themselves while letting Dwight gather his thoughts.

“It was beautiful,” Evan speaks up, still scowling at the television the same as earlier. 

No one seems to hear him except for Meg, who sits up and looks up at him, smiling. 

“Well I’m glad you liked the very first movie you’ve seen.”

“Wait…there’s more?”

Meg can’t help but let out a quiet laugh before folding her hands in her lap.

“Don’t tell me you thought this was the only one?”

“This looked so realistic…that must have taken years. That was incredible…”

“Well looks like we’ll have to watch more movies then,” Meg says with a smile as she grabs Evan’s hand. 

“I’d like that,” Evan says, smiling down at Meg who wants this moment to last, only to be interrupted by Nea loudly jumping up to the television.

“Okay so now who’s ready for Rudolph?”

\---

9.Family

Family is such a weird word for Evan.

Never being close to his father and having his mother die when he was young left him with a warped sense of what a typical family should be.Sure, he knew the traditional values of both husband and wife, having kids and raising them in a caring environment to where children should be able to rely on their parents for life lessons, education, comfort, and reassurance. 

But as soon as his mother passed, his understanding of inherent unconditional love in a family began to diminish until there was nothing left but a shell of a man who knew he could only rely on one person: himself.

Once he realized this, he accepted it; there was no other alternative for him, and he likes to believe it made him stronger.

Made him into the man he was.

But that man ended up killing over one hundred people.

While in the Entity’s realm, he had time to think, more time than he ever wanted, but often he found himself wondering if he would have turned out the same way if he were brought up differently. 

Not that it would change anything, but as they were let go of the realm and his quiet, cold house became a home for Meg and her friends, he begins to let go of his regrets.

He begins to stop thinking about his old family, or lack thereof, and begins to experience this new, weird sense of friendship Meg has opened his eyes to. 

He finds himself wondering not only how Meg is, but also her friends.They’ve become staples in his life that he finds he misses when they’re not around, despite how annoying and aggravating they are to him most of the time.

But then again, there were times he would listen to his workers complain about their family, and how they couldn’t wait to get away.Evan could relate to that, but as soon as they talked about how much they still loved their family despite the grief and irritation they might cause, he was lost. 

Never feeling that way about any sort of family around him, Evan became an expert at nodding, pretending he understood, though not that he particularly cared.

As it always was, he was accustomed to certain aspects of his life he knew he lacked, so it didn’t matter.

And only now does he realize truly what his old workers meant.

As Meg went out for a walk with Nea, Evan was left to reflect upon everything that day from waking up with the most important person beside him, to experiencing so many new things, some he didn’t quite enjoy, but others he didn’t mind, to how the whole manor has changed drastically. 

Before, he would look around at everyone’s shoes piled by the door, and how Claudette and Kate have spruced up the kitchen with some more modern decoration giving a bit of color to an otherwise dreary house. 

There were jackets thrown over chairs, and in the bathrooms there were hairbrushes and other cosmetics Evan knew nothing about.

It gave his old, cold house life, turning it more into a home than he ever thought possible, and now as he looks at the kitchen filled with Christmas cookies, and the living room decorated with a tree full of ornaments and tinsel, and a wreaths hung on every door, he can hardly believe this is the same place that caused so much darkness. 

He is thankful for Meg, thankful that she has given him the chance to show her, and everyone, other sides to him that don’t involve his dark past, and he can’t even begin to put into words how much this newfound family means to him.

\---

10\. Mistletoe

“Hey, Red, I got a question for ya,” Ace asks Meg beckoning her over to the living room, effectively pulling her away from the kitchen, enjoying the mass amounts of cookies Kate and Claudette were still in the process of making. 

“What’s up?”

“Okay, look, so I got this at the mall earlier, and I was wondering if I put it up, if you think Kate would be interested in, uh, it,” Ace says holding up an obnoxiously large fake hanging mistletoe.

“You’re asking if Kate would follow the rules of mistletoe? With that ungodly fake thing?”

“Yes,” Ace nods his head oddly seriously.

“Well I don’t know Ace, if you wanted to kiss her maybe ask her instead of being creepy about it?” Meg crosses her arms at him and laughs.

“This ain’t creepy.It’s tradition! It’s fun! You know how she likes tradition.”

“And since when has she said she likes ‘tradition’?” Meg emphasizes ‘tradition’ with air quotes before placing her hands on her hips.“Look if you wanna kiss her so bad, just ask her.You two have been flirting up a storm ever since we got here, it’s about time you two confessed your feelings.It’s weird seeing you actually have feelings…I don’t know if I like it.”

“Ah,” Ace raises his eyebrows at her playfully, “Are you trying to say you’re jealous? Don’t like seeing me flirting with someone else?”

“Oh God no,” Meg waves her hands in front of her and shakes her head.“She can have…whatever your sense of flirting is.”

“I suppose you’re right.You have our good ol’ bodyguard to keep you warm at night.And speaking of telling someone how you feel,” Ace begins to move his eyebrows up and down at her, his grin growing on his face.

“This is completely different,” Meg says, looking away since she already feels her cheeks begin to burn.She can’t just ask Evan to kiss her…no.That’s completely out of the question. 

_Is it though?_

“I’m just saying, if you just ask her, you might not need the mistletoe.”

“Same goes for you too, kid,” Ace says, already hanging up the mistletoe above the doorway. 

“I don’t know what you mean,” Meg says, shaking her head and already turning around to walk anywhere else but in that hallway with Ace.

“Sure, kid.Just know this’ll be here when you need it.”

Meg ignores Ace’s final comment as she begins to turn the corner into the living room, but is soon stopped by Evan’s giant frame walking into the hallway.

She freezes, not knowing how much of that conversation he heard, if any, as she slowly looks up to meet his eye. 

“Is that mistletoe?” Evan asks, not looking down at Meg, but rather over her head at Ace climbing down from a small stool he dragged over.

“Yup.Thought it could make some fun situations around here, ya know?”

Evan hums and looks down at Meg, and as though a light switch went on, his face relaxes as he raises an eyebrow.

“What’s that look supposed to mean?” Meg asks, taking a step back, feeling like she is being suffocated from every direction with Evan and Ace’s eyes on her.

“You seem flustered.”

“Flustered?” Meg repeats.“I’m not flustered.”

“She’s flustered,” Ace speaks up from behind her.“But while you two talk about the states of your flusterment, I’m gonna go enjoy some cookies.”

The two wait for Ace to leave before saying anything, and as Evan looks down at Meg, she decides to break the silence.

“I didn’t know you’d know what mistletoe is.”

“I may not be from this time, but mistletoe isn’t a new concept,” Evan says, still smiling down at Meg.

“Oh really? So you have plenty of experience with that in your time then huh?” Meg asks, relaxing just a bit as she smiles back at him.

“No, never had it around.Read stories with it in it though.I had thought it was a pointless, cruel thing to have around, especially should people not want to be stuck in an awkward situation.”

“See! That’s what I’m saying.It’s a gross excuse to kiss unwilling participants in the name of ‘spirit’,” Meg says, nodding her head, trying not to cringe at the way her voice sounds a little too high-pitched than normal and how her heart beats so loud in her chest, she’s sure Evan can hear it.

“But I do understand the appeal should two willing participants be stuck under it.It could be pleasant with the right person.”Evan says as his smile fades, looking back up at the mistletoe before commenting, “He put it under the wrong doorway.”

“What do you mean?” Meg asks, all humor fading from her voice as well as she takes a small, minuscule step towards Evan.

She convinces herself she’s just shuffling her weight from one foot to another.

Evan glances up at the doorframe they stand under before giving her a small smirk.

“Plenty of doorframes in the house.Not many people use that room,” Evan points out. 

“Ah,” Meg smiles.“Yeah putting that in a commonly used doorframe wouldn’t cause any issues at all.I could get stuck under there with Ace for all we know.”

Evan’s playful look on his face dissolves immediately as he frowns down at Meg, opening his mouth to say something before closing it once again, seemingly changing his mind.

“I think he put the mistletoe in the right place then,” Evan mutters, glancing back up at the hanging leaves before grabbing Meg’s hand and gesturing back into the living room.“Though I was wondering if you’d care to join me for a drink?”

Meg peeks in the room around Evan’s giant frame to see blankets laid out on the ground with some pillows in front of the still roaring, crackling fire.There are two glasses of wine sitting beside the blankets, beaconing her in almost instantly.

“Wow, look at you.This is quite the thoughtful gesture.”

“It’s nothing,” Evan shakes his head, “Just some blankets.I suppose I haven’t shown you just how thoughtful I can be, in that case.”

“Still...this is sweet, if not really cheesy, but sweet nevertheless,” Meg says, walking in and admiring the view…even though it’s missing something…

“We need cookies,” she says, rushing into the kitchen before settling in for the night with Evan.

\---

11\. Christmas Carols

As the night falls upon the house and it begins to quiet down with Nea, David, and Ace drinking elsewhere in the house, and Kate, Dwight, and Claudette all calling it an early night, Meg is looking forward to having some downtime with Evan, especially with that day being so full of excitement from everyone.But now it’ll just feel like _them_. 

She loves her friends dearly, but it’s always nice to have some time alone with Evan.While her friends are excitement and entertaining, Evan is relaxing, soothing, and she has come to crave that more than anything these last few months. 

Walking into the kitchen, Meg pulls a plate from a cabinet before loading it with all of the different kinds of cookies Claudette and Kate baked earlier that day. 

After the initial scolding by Claudette when the first batch of cookies were done, she got easily distracted by other things that day, never thinking to come back and try them.So when Evan poured a bit of wine for them out to relax by the fire, she wanted to try them with him, see his reactions.

Having him try new foods has become an enjoyable hobby of hers, especially when he gets so adamant about not liking something but can’t stop eating it like with cheesepuffs that they always have to keep stocked up on.

Looking at the variety of cookies, they come in all different colors and sizes, she can hardly wait to sit down before chowing down, but she refrains as she quickly walks to the living room. 

“You ready to get your mind blown away by these cookies?” Meg asks excitedly as she plops down on the floor, placing the plate between them.“Which one do you want to try first?”

“What are these?” Evan points to a brownie with a layer of green icing.

“Brownies with some sort of icing…mint maybe?” Meg guesses as she picks one up and smells it.

“Brownies?”

“You’ve never had a brownie before?” she asks, taking a bite. 

Evan shakes his head as he takes a bite of another one and pauses after one chew. 

“What? You don’t like it?” Meg asks as she finishes her brownie in just another bite.“I thought you would-“

“What is in this?” he asks, crumbs falling from his mouth.“It’s just a chunk of chocolate and mint…this…I really like this,” he finishes by shoving the rest of the brownie in his mouth before reaching for another. 

Meg pauses, never seeing Evan react this way to any sort of food, and it takes everything in her to not burst out laughing at the way he practically eats the whole brownie in one bite. 

“You’re going to feel sick if you keep going,” Meg teases as she pokes at his belly.

“I’ll be fine,” he says, licking off a bit of chocolate from his finger.“Now what are these other ones?”

The two spend the next few minutes trying different bites of cookies, finding their favorites, Evan’s obviously being the brownies, and Meg’s being nutmeg cookie logs that Claudette hyped up so much earlier. 

After the two can barely take another bite, Meg carries the almost empty plate back into the kitchen, and that’s when she hears music begin to play. 

It is slow and soft at first, grainy and hard to hear, but she recognizes the melody as O Holy Night, one of her mom’s favorite Christmas carols.

They’d listen to Christmas music a lot during December since it was something that could give them happiness, a distraction to what was often a tough time, and Meg can’t help but smile as she listens, the song taking her back in time for just a moment.

With a deep breath, she sets the plate down and goes back into the living room to join Evan who is standing by the gramophone the music is coming out of.

“We had records from my mother, but my father forbid them after she died.I just found these the other day and figured why not try it out tonight?” Evan says softly, looking at the rotating record like he was just as lost in thought as Meg was. 

Then, like an explosion, Nea’s voice comes yelling through the house.“Are those Christmas carols?!”

And just as soon as she stops, three very loud, very drunk voices begin trying to sing some sort of Christmas carol, and it wouldn’t even be that bad if they all chose the same one, but as Nea sings O Holy Night, David begins singing Jingle Bells, and Ace begins some other song Meg hasn’t even heard of.

Meg and Evan exchange a worried glance as they also hear bangs and stumbling coming down the hallway along with the loud carols and eventually after what seems like an hour, Nea, David, and Ace come into the room, all respectively still trying to sing carols.

“Come on,” Ace slurs as he wobbles, entering the room and spilling some of his drink on the ground.“Join in, you two.”

“I’d rather not,” Evan grumbles from behind her which only makes Meg laugh at the clear and immediate frustration in his exasperated voice.

“You guys are having fun, you three keep at it.Just try not to wake up anyone,” Meg suggests.

“Yeah yeah,” Nea sasses, bumping into the corner of a small table in the corner of the room.“They’ll be fine.It’s Christmas!”

“Eve,” Meg corrects.

“Christmas Eve! Gotta have some-“ Nea hiccups and pauses, getting her bearings, “- fun.”

“Okay well go sing some carols to Kate or something,” Meg says, just wanting them to at least leave the living room so her and Evan and resume their night.

“Ohhhh yes! She loves songs!” Ace coos like a love-struck teenager.“Why didn’t we think about that?”

After a moment of the three drunkenly agreeing to bother Kate, much to Meg’s regret because she knows she won’t hear the end of it from Kate tomorrow, but for right now, she just wants to spend this time with Evan in peace.

Meg and Evan continue their conversation, sharing stories about their past, talking about the future, and everything in between.Never feeling like she can know enough about Evan, she listens intently at every detail as he opens up, and she never takes it for granted that he trusts her enough to tell her such intimate stories. In return she tells him things she’s never told anyone, and as the mood begins to grow somber, they begin telling their most embarrassing moments like when Evan was caught by his workers in some underground bar singing his heart out after having one drink too many.

_“Underground bar?”_

_“Yeah it was pretty exclusive, and yet they somehow managed to get in.”_

_“So you’d just go and drink and sing?”_

_“I’d go and drink. The singing was a surprise that night.”_

_“I’d love to hear the famous Evan MacMillan sing sometime.”_

_“No, you don’t.There’s a reason the singing was a surprise.”_

_“I bet it was fine.”_

_“It was terrible, trust me.”_

So to make up for Evan’s embarrassment, Meg told him about the time she accidentally got a job at a diner because she got mistaken for working there, and ended up working a few shifts because she was too embarrassed to tell anyone she didn’t work there, plus she needed the money, and she somehow managed to get paid under the table.

As the two talk, the drunken carols from the others die down after awhile, muffled by them singing upstairs until eventually they die out completely as the three pass out, hopefully in a bed and not in the hallway after their small party night. 

Once there is a lull in the conversation between the two of them, Evan lets out a long contented sigh before he gets up, his knees popping as he stands up fully.

“Where are you off to?”

“I’m getting you your Christmas present,” he says.“I thought tonight would be a good time to give it to you.”

“Oh,” Meg says, smiling up at him, “Yeah, I’d like that.Can you grab the bag of stuff I got for you?”

“Of course.”

“But no peeking!”

\---

12.Gift Giving

When Evan comes back in the room, setting both of their respective presents beside them, her whole body buzzes with excitement.Not so much for her present, but for Evan’s, and all she hopes is that he likes it.Part of her wishes she had more time and could give him a more thoughtful gift, but she is certain he’ll like it just the same.

Hopefully.

“Do you want to go first?” Evan asks, scooting closer to her so their knees are practically touching as they sit facing each other.

“No, you open yours first,” Meg responds, shoving the bag in his lap before he can protest.“I’m equal bits excited and worried you won’t like it so I want to see your reaction first.”

“Fair enough,” Evan breathes out in amusement. 

Meg’s stomach is in knots as he opens the bag and finds his presents wrapped in dark brown paper, the only thing Meg could find around, and he smiles. 

“You went through the trouble of wrapping this? When did you find time?”

“Honestly, no idea,” Meg begins as she rests her hands on his knees urging him to keep unwrapping as she talks.“But I was determined to make it somewhat special.”

“Anything from you is special,” Evan says softly, placing a hand over hers and giving it a small squeeze.

“Oh whatever,” Meg replies, rolling her eyes as she smiles at how horribly cheesy that sounded.“Now open it! You’re killing me with anticipation.”

Evan begins to peel the paper so unnaturally slowly before looking up at Meg to gauge her reaction, and when she notices, she smacks him gently on his leg causing soft laughs from both of them.Ending her suffering, Evan completely unwraps his present and pauses when he sees it.

Running his hand over the cover of a book, _Vegetable Gardening for Washington and Oregon,_ he begins to flip through the pages, not giving any indication if he likes it or not, still keeping Meg on her toes, leaning forward in suspense.

“So?” She breaks the silence.“Is it okay? Do you like it? I thought since Claudette’s knowledge of gardening only goes so far, it would be nice to have your own book for gardening, especially for our own climate.I mean if it’s stupid, I bet I still have the receipt somewhere-“

“Meg, I…” Evan trails off before clearing his throat, his face unreadable as he stares at the pages he flips in his hand.“This is the best gift anyone has ever given me.”

“Really?” Meg’s heart bursts, relief flooding through her as she visibly relaxes.“I was worried-“

“This is wonderful,” Evan beams, his voice cracking as he reaches up and caresses Meg’s cheek.She leans into it while smiling up at him.

“I’m relieved,” she says while reaching into her pocket to pull out a small keychain with a pink donut dangling back and forth.“I also got you this in case you hated the book.”

Evan’s attention focuses from Meg to the keychain and he chuckles as he takes the small trinket in his hand. 

“I always remembered this as one of the first times we really got along.It was a nice memory, still is.I think about it a lot,” she admits as she watches Evan flip the keychain around in his hands.

“I really appreciate that time, as well.You were so excited to see me try them.It was the first time I truly saw you relax around me, which meant the world.”

“Meant the world? I doubt I was that special back then,” Meg responds, trying to hide her shock at how things weren’t all that they seemed even back then, and how she wouldn’t change a thing.

“You have no idea,” Evan breathes, staring at Meg with such intensity she swallows a lump in her throat, having to look away at her present, and as though Evan read her mind, he hands her the bag, changing the subject back to the presents at hand.“I didn’t think to wrap it, I’m sorry, but I thought of you as soon as I saw it.”

Tearing the bag apart a lot fiercer than needed, Meg pulls out a small painted picture of a sunrise.The canvas is painted with gorgeous shades of red, yellow, purple, and blue, over mountains and trees, a typical Washington sunrise.It knocks all the air from her lungs as she stares at just how beautiful it is.

“You told me once you loved sunrises, and the colors, they reminded me of you.I couldn’t resist getting it.”

“Oh…oh wow,” Meg takes in a deep breath, holding the small canvas in her hand, “I feel like my present wasn’t nearly anything this…special.”

Evan chuckles, a sound she loves to hear, and she looks up at him, a crooked smile on her face.“What?”

“I love what you gave me,” he says, taking the small donut charm and clipping it awkwardly to his pants.The small pink donut looks completely out of place for him, but she smiles anyway, appreciating that he would at least pretend to like her gift.

“I know we don’t have a lot of money and we didn’t have much time-“ she starts to say, making excuses to the gifts.

“I love it,” Evan mutters while tracing his fingers down the side of her face softly before running through her hair.“I’ll treasure both of them forever.Trust me.”

Emotions coarse through her so fast, her hand shakes as she lifts one up and gently places her hand against Evan’s cheek, cupping his face in her tiny palm.She doesn’t know what she’s doing, not really, touching him like this, so intimately while they’re awake.

He freezes for a moment, and she wonders if she crossed a line.He has woken up to her tracing the scars on his face, down his neck, onto his arms, but she’s never held his face like he holds hers all the time. 

He deserves it, deserves a loving touch from someone who cares about him just as much as he cares about her. 

Warmth rushes through her body as he exhales slow, resting into her hand before placing one of his large hands over hers.She can’t help but smile at the way his face relaxes, turning him into a completely different person than anyone has ever seen. 

“Thank you for the best Christmas I could ever ask for,” she says softly, leaning forward.

“No, Meg, thank you.I never thought I would ever…” his voice trails off before he clears his throat, continuing.“I never thought I could deserve this, but you’ve made me the luckiest man out there.”

“I feel the same,” Meg rubs her thumb along a small scar beside his eye before pulling it away and setting down the sunrise picture beside her.

She doesn’t care what he says; she is definitely the lucky one.Today has proven that in a place surrounded by friends that love her, protected and cherished by someone she has come to cherish more than anything, in a place where she feels safe, in a place that smells like cookies, and palm trees, and candles. 

A place that she can call home.

“Merry Christmas, Evan,” she coos, sighing at just how content she feels wrapped up in the arms of the man who is more important than anyone in her life.

“Merry Christmas, Meg,” he responds, his voice soft and breathy as they turn to stare at the fire, wrapped up in each other’s comfort before gently drifting off to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so first and foremost, for those of you who have come from Breath of Life and follow my on twitter, ignore my self-indulgence love for The Muppets Christmas Carol lmao. But anyways, thank you for reading! This was written as a small gift for all of my amazing readers and those who have shown me the most amazing support and love since the beginning! Being Christmas time I wanted to give a little bit back and write an insane amount of fluff <3 Hope you enjoyed <3


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